The positive impact of Math Learning Support Centers (MLSCs) on student performance is well-documented in existing literature. However, we argue in this study that many of these evaluations could be improved methodologically. Using a more rigorous approach, we investigated the effect of an MLSC on students' performance and affective variables in…

Test anxiety of 625 medical students was assessed at semester start and two days prior to two oral exams with the PAF questionnaire [Prüfungsangstfragebogen]. Global and subscale scores for the categories "emotionality," "worry," "interference," and "lack of confidence" were obtained at three time points.…

The inverse relationship between test anxiety and test performance is commonly explained by test-anxious students' tendency to worry about a test and the consequences of failing. However, other cognitive facets of test anxiety have been identified that could account for this link, including interference by test-irrelevant thoughts and lack of…

When a cognitive ability is assessed repeatedly, test scores and ability estimates are often observed to increase across test sessions. This phenomenon is known as the retest (or practice) effect. One explanation for retest effects is that situational test anxiety interferes with a testee's performance during earlier test sessions, thereby…

The operationalization of performance-approach goals (PAGs) was found to be an important moderator of the associations between different PAGs and several educational outcomes. To explore this aspect in more detail, we conducted two studies with school students (N[subscript 1] = 425, mean age = 16.6 years, SD = 0.61; N[subscript 2] = 310, mean age…

In the time before an upcoming exam, anxiety is an omnipresent emotion that students may choose to regulate. To date, emotion regulation strategies have been examined in everyday life, but little is known about how these strategies work in exam-related contexts. Therefore, our aim was to explore the effectiveness of several emotion regulation…

Objective: Academic examinations are a frequent and significant source of student stress, but multimodal, psychophysiological studies are still missing. Participants & methods: Psychological and physiological variables were assessed on 154 undergraduate students in daily life using e-diaries resp. blood pressure devices at the beginning of the…

Introduction: We aimed to examine whether student teachers' tendency to test anxiety relates to their later perspective-taking tendency and self-efficacy. The purpose of the presented study was to obtain first insights into the relationship between test anxiety, perspective-taking, and self-efficacy tendencies in student teachers. These tendencies…

In a cross-sectional questionnaire study with N = 1658 German students, aged between 12 and 17 years (M = 14.1, SD = 0.5), we investigated the relation of students' personal belief in a just world (BJW) to their school absenteeism and functions of school refusal behavior. In accordance with recent studies which identified negative relations…

Following recommendations by the European Commission, bilingualism has been promoted in various ways in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. Language classes and the concept of immersion were gradually introduced in primary schools, while, at the secondary level, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programmes were…

The aim of the present study was to examine the interplay between test anxiety (i.e. worry and emotionality) and learned helplessness in a sample of adolescents (N = 845, aged 13-17 years) in secondary schools in Germany. In accordance with the buffering hypothesis, it was hypothesised that the detrimental association between both components of…

Standardised tests help measure student's progress at school and can inform education policy about existing shortfalls. However, too much testing could lead to much pressure on students and teachers to learn and teach for a test, something that would take the joy out of the learning process. Many parents and educators are all too familiar with…

Background: Research on test anxiety of elementary school children has mainly focused on prevalence rates and gender differences. Less work has addressed predictors of test anxiety in elementary school children. According to the control-value theory developed by Pekrun ("Educ Psychol Rev" 18:315-341. doi: 10.1007/s10648-006-9029-9,…

We investigated processes underlying performance decrements of highly test-anxious persons. Three experiments contrasted conditions that differed in the degree of activation of concepts related to failure. Participants memorized a list of words either containing words related to failure or containing no words related to failure in Experiment 1. In…

Based on cognitive evaluation theory (CET) and organismic integration theory (OIT)--both sub-theories of self-determination theory (SDT)--the present study examined whether the academic self-regulation of youth with test anxiety can be strengthened through social and motivational relationships with peers and teachers. This study employed a large…